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POL I T CS Delhi-Srinagar Relations
Abdullah's government in 1953. Sheikh was arrested and put into detention and then extorted and imprisoned. Right from January 1974, a series of discussions began between Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah and his associate Mirza Afzal Beg on the one hand and various members of the Indian government, including Indra Gandhi on the other, over the terms on which the administration to the state of Jammu and Kashmir might be entrusted to a government headed by Sheikh Abdullah. Finally Indira-Shiekh Accord or Kashmir Accord was signed on 24th October 1975. The terms of the Kashmir Accord considered much disappointment in Kashmir, particularly in a section of its youth for it offered much less autonomy to the state than it enjoyed in 1953. Certain activities of Sheikh Abdullah's government such as the reorganization of some assembly constituencies in 1979 on communal lines, withdrawal of cases against the ' Al Fateh' men, denial of state citizenship to the 1947 refugees and adoption of the Resettlement Bill (1982) made serious dents in the body politic of the state. The year of 1986 was a period of coalition between a regional party (National Conference) and a national party (Congress), which despite having historical differences in their political ideology made a first coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir by entering into an accord known as RajivFarooq accord on 7th November, 1986. The accord was defended by the two parties mainly on the ground that it would ensure a larger inflow of central funds to the state. The argument implied that central aid was given on narrow political considerations. It was as if the party in power at the Centre had a right to buy a share in the political power of a state by promising aid. This
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coalition government was a coalition of compulsion that gave rise to communal elements which paved the way of instability in Jammu and Kashmir. However, Rajiv-Farooq Accord failed to prove as effective as expected. The Accord also played havoc in Kashmir as it was denounced as unholy, unjust and un-politic. It was not based on principle. The opposition parties in the
The year of 1986 was a period of coalition between a regional party (National Conference) and a national party (Congress), which despite had historical differences in their political ideology made a first coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir by entered into an accord known as Rajiv-Farooq accord on 7th November, 1986.
state described the Accord as another sell out of the state to Delhi and also called Dr. Farooq a puppet in the hands of the Centre. The accord once again pushed Jammu and Kashmir outside the framework of federal democracy in India. More importantly, it blocked secular outlets of protest against governments both at the centre and the states. Before the accord was signed, the National Conference provided an outlet for the first and the Congress an outlet for the second kind of protest.
Vol. 3, Issue 12
The accord destroyed the raison d'être of both the parties and forced all types of discontent to seek fundamentalist or secessionist outlets, which consolidated in the form of the Muslim United Front. Rajiv- Farooq alliance was perceived to be in the category of the Rajiv- Longwall accord, the Assam Accord and the Mizoram accord. The common features of these accords were an agreement between the regional leaders and the Prime Minister of India over disputes regarding the status or problems of the respective regions. There was no such dispute in Jammu and Kashmir which Rajiv-Farooq accord resolved. It was an agreement between them as presidents of two parties. But the way it was perceived, interpreted and projected, it implied a new agreement over centre-state relations. One of the important conditions of the accord was to call fresh elections which were held on 23rd March, 1987, but the entire electoral politics gave rise to a new political syndrome characterized by radicalism and aggressive propaganda against the existing setup and a threat of violence. Thus 1987 elections undoubtedly revived the spirit of separation in Jammu & Kashmir. The sanctity of electoral process and the trust of Kashmiri's in Indian democracy that was already declining due to erosion of special status and toppling of elected governments by the centre collapsed after these elections. The successive rulers imposed by the centre, the arbitrary dismissal of Dr. Farooq Abdullah's government and subsequent arm twisting to share power with Congress and the blatant manipulation of the electoral process in 1987 led Kashmiris’ to believe that they would remain permanently marginalized under the current political dispensation. Hence rose the demand for secession .
Epilogue, December 2009